The 1859 Wyandotte Constitution mandated that the state create and support institutions for “the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf and dumb, and such other benevolent institutions as the public good may require.”[5] As a result, the Kansas Insane Asylum was established in 1866 in Osawatomie.

Due to overcrowding, an additional asylum was approved by Governor Osborn; the Topeka State Hospital opened in 1879.

1, all of these hospitals, as well as all social service programs where overseen by counties with very little state oversight.

[6] The agency was first established in 1973 from then-Governor Docking's Executive Reorganization Order No.

In that same year, legislation was passed to transfer all social welfare programs from the various counties to the new agency.